A year-in-review at EastIdahoNews.com and some of our favorite work in 2024
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It’s been a memorable year at EastIdahoNews.com. We’ve gained some new faces, said farewell to others, launched a new department, and hopefully produced some exceptional journalism along the way.
During 2024, EastIdahoNews.com hit its ninth birthday and celebrated its 10th year of our Secret Santa, which has grown to reach millions of people each November and December. For the staff, this is one of the most memorable times of the year. We love being Secret Santa’s elves. A huge thank you goes to news director Nate Eaton and videographer Jordan Wood for their tireless effort to produce dozens of videos.
Our website has now grown to be the largest news site in Idaho, according to industry analyst Similarweb. Our audience continues to grow throughout the Gem State and in nearby states. We are forever grateful to our users for their support.
EastIdahoNews.com received about 117 million pageviews in 2024, with an explosion of users during the Chad Daybell trial in April and May.
In September, EastIdahoNews.com fulfilled a goal we’ve had since launching in 2015. We created a sports department to cover local athletics at high schools, universities and in the community at large. Kalama Hines, our longtime Pocatello reporter, was promoted to sports director to helm the new effort. We brought on veteran sports reporter Allan Steele from the Idaho Falls Post Register to work alongside Hines. Thus far, they’ve proven to be a formidable team.
Massive appreciation goes to web manager Robert Patten and graphic designer Alex Lemoing for designing the EastIdahoSports.com website. Josh Johnson, leading the EastIdahoNews.com sales staff, successfully found community sponsors for the new page and helped promote it. We are grateful for the support of the community and our sponsors!
Also, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our new business administrator, Lindsey Palmer, who joined us this year to help us better communicate with our audience. Peggy Jeppeson rounds out our communication staff as eastern Idaho’s best comment moderator and inbox manager. These ladies communicate with hundreds of users each month.
The state of the newsroom
You may have noticed a few new bylines this year. Weekend editor Mary Boyle left EastIdahoNews.com in February to pursue a new opportunity and was replaced by David Pace, another Post Register transplant. We’ve added half a dozen freelancers to the mix and still have a couple job openings to fill if you know someone qualified.
We were pleased to host Isabella Sosa-Salazar as an intern from Brigham Young University-Idaho through the Voces Internship of Idaho program. She produced over 80 stories and was a wonderful addition to our newsroom. Her capstone project was on immigration reform.
The biggest story of the year was the two-month murder trial of Chad Daybell in Boise. His trial follows that of his wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, in 2023 and brings to a close a years-long narrative about the murders of Tammy Daybell, JJ Vallow, and Tylee Ryan in 2019. Eaton has covered it since the beginning, and we sent him to Boise for the eight-week trial. He was in court nearly every day and reported to hundreds of thousands of people during his nightly Courtroom Insider program. In the end, Chad Daybell was found guilty and given the death penalty.
Eaton will be in Arizona this spring to cover Lori Daybell’s trial in relation to the death of Charles Vallow.
The most gargantuan effort of the year was a series created to help the Idaho National Laboratory celebrate its 75th Anniversary. The entire newsroom participated in the 14-part series that was spread throughout the year. Given the complexity of the science taking place at INL, this series pushed my reporters well beyond their comfort zones. The result was a fascinating look at a somewhat “mysterious” part of our community.
Also of note was our yearlong Workin’ It video series, which let our reporters try out the jobs of others.
We were also awarded a dozen honors from the Idaho Press Club for work in 2023.
The EastIdahoNews.com staff published over 4,000 local stories on many topics this year.
Among my favorites was a story by Eaton about the tragic death of 20-year-old Abbi Bischoff. He took an in-depth look at the preventable crash that prematurely ended her life and the person who was responsible.
Eaton and Kaitlyn Hart also covered the end of a multiyear story about Dylan Rounds, a local man missing in Utah. His body was found and a man was sentenced for Rounds’ murder.
Hart spent a large portion of her year covering murderers being brought to justice. Mark Bent and Randy Larkin were both found guilty in separate trials. The trials ended years of Hart’s coverage of both cases. Lance Broncho was also sentenced for first-degree murder.
Andrea Olson covered a simply amazing story this year. An 85-year-old woman suffered an armed home invasion, where the intruder handcuffed her to a chair. Amazingly, the senior citizen was able to get to her gun and kill the burglar. Olson did a deep dive into this story after a records request to Bingham County.
Rett Nelson continued his expansive historical series on some of Idaho’s elected officials. This year, Nelson took an in-depth look at some of Idaho’s most memorable governors. He also spent a great deal of time covering the water curtailment crisis and how it impacted local farmers this summer.
Before moving to sports, Hines covered the Brad Compher murder trial, which brought to rest the murder of Nori Jones more than 20 years ago in Pocatello.
Looking Back columnist Brittni Johnson got to the bottom of a local historical mystery at the Valley in the Cloud Sanitarium in Island Park. This one was one of the strangest stories we’ve ever covered.
Logan Ramsey got to witness a rare event as a massive 80-year-old steam engine thundered through eastern Idaho.
Finally, Pace took his investigative chops to the next level with a deep dive into allegations of animal abuse at the East Idaho Aquarium. This weeks-long investigation highlighted the concerns of whistleblowers, and examined changes owners were making to address the abuse.
These were just some of my favorites. I’ll let a few of my reporters speak for themselves about some of their most memorable work in 2024. They each made a big impact on the community this year, and I’m proud of them.
Rett Nelson
This story was prompted by the botched execution of Thomas Creech. He would’ve been the state’s 30th man to be executed and it got me wondering about the history of Idaho executions and lethal injections.
‘The father of Mormon cinema’ reflects on career, industry he created and why he left the faith
This summer, I was listening to a podcast with Richard Dutcher, the father of Mormon cinema. I was fascinated with his faith journey and the movement he created and that led to this story. Though he is from Utah, the faith aspect is relatable to eastern Idahoans and many locals have seen these types of films.
Drive-in theaters are a significant part of American culture and the closure of this local drive-in led me to a woman who grew up working there and an exploration of its history and the industry in general.
Nelson also mentioned his work on a piece exploring Democratic leadership in the Gem State, and an interview with a woman who witnessed her mother’s murder in 2004.
Andrea Olson
‘I was shocked. I was amazed.’ A basketball full of memories mystery has been solved
This story was so cool! It all started with a simple, “Can you get the word out about this?”
I was walking by the Idaho Falls Police Department one day at the law enforcement building, and Gary Allan, who works at the front desk, asked me for help. He wanted to know where a lost and found item he had received came from. It was a basketball signed by players in the 90s and said “Coach of the Year.” I was fascinated and wanted to know, too. One thing led to another, and we were able to connect with the original owner!
It’s magical: Harry Potter inspired wand shop opens in Rexburg
I thought this was a really fun business story. I have done several business features but this one stuck out to me because it’s so unique. I love the idea of decorating a wand that you can keep forever and also the fact that you can drink some “Butterbeer.” The whole idea is magical.
What if? Woman who lost father in WWII bomber crash at INL reflects on his life
This was an interesting story to work on, and it had a lot of history. It took time and effort, and I enjoyed trying to piece together the video portion and written portion. It was wonderful to talk to Roberta Madsen and get to know about her family’s past.
Olson also mentioned her work on a story about the Idaho STAR Team, and her chance to make chocolate at Florence’s Chocolates.
Kaitlyn Hart
She was shimmer and shine’: Siblings remember sister killed in alleged RV stabbing
This was an extremely tragic and difficult story to cover from day one. Meeting with the family and talking to them about their love for Megan was inspiring, and I am grateful I got to meet them and help share their story.
Is Fielding Memorial Cemetery being neglected? We looked into it
Sometimes, in journalism, you don’t realize how many people a story impacts until you finish, publish it, and wait for the feedback. I loved writing this story because, throughout the process, I met so many people who had been impacted by both sides – by their frustrations at the cemetery and those who were working to maintain it.
We dug through trash from World War II in the Idaho desert. Here’s what we found.
This was a story I never expected to write and honestly knew nothing about before diving into it. I could’ve spent hours out there digging through the remnants of those before us and learning how much different their lives were than ours are now.
Hart also spoke fondly about a feature story on a 73-year-old man who survived in the wilderness for five days. She also worked on an investigation into bed bugs at a local hotel.
Logan Ramsey
Is a super eruption at Yellowstone imminent? A geophysicist explains.
I got the opportunity to interview Michael Poland, the Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory for this story, which was an eye-opening experience. He was insightful and provided a lot of information about a well discussed topic that I had not heard before, and clarified misconceptions I previously held.
I always love writing a story that has gripping drama, and the true story of how Tamra Bassett was rescued by the Backcountry Rescue Team is about as gripping as a story can get. Thanks to the efforts of volunteer outdoor enthusiasts, Bassett is alive today and was able to share her story with me.
Fort Hall students first in Idaho to go to national debate tournament from an all-indigenous school
The students that I talked to from Shoshone/Bannock Jr./Sr. High School are some of the brightest students I’ve talked to, but also leaders in their school. I have no doubt that their accomplishments will inspire other students to follow in their footsteps.
Ramsey also brought up work he did on new library policies brought on by state legislation, and a feature on author Wendy S. Swore.
